ISABEL

FORTY ONE

"How could you?!" Paulina screamed at her mate, taking backward steps as she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

They were currently at the backyard of their house, arguing.

"How could you do this to me?!"

"Honey, I'm sorry... I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me? Protect me, you say... You made a complete fool out of me, Rodrigo!"

Hearing his mate say those words hurt Rodrigo and his wolf deeply. He never intended to hurt Paulina. He just didn't want her finding out about the result of his mistake because that would've hurt her even more than the fact that he had a relationship with another female werewolf before her, and he sure would've lost her forever.

"You were hurting at the time, and I didn't want to cause you more pain." He tried to explain.

"It doesn't matter!"

No excuse can make up for the secret he kept from her.

All these years, her mate had been deceiving her and she was gullible enough to believe him. How stupid he must've thought she was.

"Aarghhh!" She screamed, letting out her pain and frustration.

The physical pain she was having at the moment as a result of the injuries inflicted on her by Rodrigo's son was nothing compared to the emotional pain she was presently experiencing.

"Don't touch me!" She flinched away when Rodrigo tried to reach for her hand.

"I can't believe it! You used me!"

"That's not true!" Rodrigo countered, as he was finding it hard to explain to his mate that he knew about his son's existence only a few years back, after he had tried to kill him. Either way, he would still be the bad guy in all of this.

"Then what is?!... I may be weak and fragile, Rodrigo, but I'm not an idiot... You never for once complained about us not having a male child because you already have one. Gosh! What a fool I was to think I had the perfect mate."

"He was supposed to be dead!" Rodrigo blurted out angrily before he could stop himself.

"What?!" Paulina exclaimed, not understanding a word her mate said.

"I asked Ignacio to get rid of him when he was born, but he didn't. He fooled me into believing that he was dead, not until the controversy about the alpha position came up." He bluntly confessed, not caring what his mate would think of him.

After all this time, his efforts to hide the secret from his mate has ended up blowing up in his face.

"You wanted your own son dead?"

"Yes. He never should've been born!"

"Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Tell me, Paulina, what was I supposed to do in a situation like that?"

"You should've acknowledged him."

"And then what? Lose you?... He would've tainted my reputation!"

"You already tainted your reputation, Rodrigo." Paulina stated, reminding her mate that he was already the topic of discussion in the pack because of his relationship with Monica, so adding a son into the picture wouldn't have hurt his reputation more than his affair already did.